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Usury laws and private credit in Lima, Peru. Evidence from notarized records

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  • Zegarra, Luis Felipe

Abstract

I examine the impact of usury laws on the Peruvian credit market between 1825 and 1852. Using a new data set of nearly 2,000 loans from archival sources, I show that the repeal of colonial anti-usury laws in early 1833 had an important effect on the allocation of credit in Lima. It increased interest rates and promoted access to credit. Furthermore, lenders made loans with greater maturities after the repeal of usury laws.

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  • Zegarra, Luis Felipe, 2017. "Usury laws and private credit in Lima, Peru. Evidence from notarized records," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 68-93.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:exehis:v:65:y:2017:i:c:p:68-93
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eeh.2017.02.001
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    Cited by:

    1. Deininger,Klaus W. & Ali,Daniel Ayalew, 2022. "How Urban Land Titling and Registry Reform Affect Land and Credit Markets : Evidencefrom Lesotho," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10043, The World Bank.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    N2; N26; N46; K1; Mortgage credit; Usury laws; Interest rates; Access to credit; Latin America;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N2 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions
    • N26 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions - - - Latin America; Caribbean
    • N46 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Latin America; Caribbean
    • K1 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law

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